Mirrors of Bergman from Criterion Collection on Vimeo.


What better agent for Bergman's dour narrative than the mirror, here lovingly explored in this latest video essay. When you look in the mirror, after all, there will most likely be no one else watching, and yet it also represents an arena in which you might take down your guard without being entirely alone. The essayist intelligently chooses the poetry of Sylvia Plath, balladeer of the inward-looking life, for a voiceover track for the piece--and beneath the audio, the haunted, sharp tones of a harpsichord composition by Vivaldi keep us marching through Bergman's films, searching for meaning, certainly, but also trying to determine what it is that the characters see in the mirrors they gaze into. bye.